Duluth | Health Sciences - University of Minnesota Home » About » Living in Minnesota Contrasting with the hustle and bustle of the Twin Cities, Duluth has a relaxed atmosphere. The city of 87,000 sits in a northern, scenic part of the state on the banks of Lake Superior – the largest freshwater lake in the world. The harbor it shares with its Superior, Wisconsin neighbor is the world’s largest inland port, also making the area an important shipping locale. Just minutes outside the city, you’ll find open spaces, flourishing forests, and amazing wildlife. Native American communities are a vibrant part of the area’s culture, and are an important part of the mission of the Duluth campus. Relocation City Clerk : City of Duluth, MN HAVA - Help America Vote Act Click here for a demonstration of the AutoMARK equipment which is available at each polling place. Voting Requirements NOTE: If you have voted within the last 4 years AND NOT MOVED you are already registered.

TO REGISTER PRIOR TO AN ELECTION: Open registration is available up to 20 days prior to an election by either: Downloading and completing a voter registration application and delivering it in person or by mail to the Duluth City Clerk (330 City Hall, 411 W. 1st St., Duluth MN 55802) or the St. Louis County Voter Registration Office (214 St. Louis County Courthouse, 100 N. 5th Ave. W., Duluth MN 55802). Picking up a Voter Registration Application from one of our distribution sites. For the locations of Voter Registration Application distribution sites, click here. Minnesota Voter Registration Application TO REGISTER ON ELECTION DAY: If you did not register before Election Day, use any of the following proof of residence options to register at your polling place. Option 1: ID with Current Name and Address Accepted IDs: Valid Minnesota driver’s license, Minnesota learner’s permit, Minnesota ID card, or a receipt for any of these Tribal ID card with your name, address, photo and signature.

Option 2: Photo ID Plus a Document with Current Name and Address The ID can be expired, and the document can also be shown electronically on a device (smartphone, etc.) Accepted photo IDs: Driver's license, state ID card or learner’s permit issued by any state United States passport United States Military ID card Tribal ID card with the name, signature and photo of the voter Minnesota university, college or technical college ID card Minnesota high school ID card Accepted documents Residential lease or rental agreement (must be valid through Election Day) Current student fee statement Bill, account or start of service statement due or dated within 30 days of election day for: Phone (landline, cell, VOIP, etc.) TV (cable, satellite, etc.) Solid waste or sewer services Electric, gas or water An Extremely Brief History of Duluth – Zenith City Online You Are Here: Home » History Archive » Duluth's Development » An Extremely Brief History of Duluth An Extremely Brief History of Duluth This sketch of Duluth appeared in Harper’s Magazine in 1871.

(Image: Zenith City Press) Boom, Bust, Boom Two years before the Treaty of 1854, George Stuntz had pulled up stakes in Superior, made his way to Minnesota Point, and driven them back down, becoming Duluth’s unofficial first resident of European descent. He wasn’t alone for long. With the treaty in place, mining speculators hoping to make it rich pulling copper from the ground swarmed to the Minnesota side of the head of the lakes, and by 1859 had platted no less than eleven townships: Fond du Lac, Oneota (much of West Duluth or “Spirit Valley”), Rice’s Point, Fremont (near the present-day site of the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center and Union Depot), Duluth (Minnesota Point and downtown), North Duluth (roughly Central Hillside), Portland (roughly East Hillside), Endion (roughly the eastern edge of East Hillside to the Congdon neighborhood), and Belville (Lakeside). Legend muddies the truth behind the naming of Duluth Township, which then included Minnesota Point.

Early settlers George and William Nettleton allegedly organized a picnic on Minnesota Point on a lovely summer’s day in 1856, inviting those Superiorites making claims on the newly platted township to propose a name for the fledgling city. After many names were suggested and rejected, the Reverend J. G. Wilson of Pittsburgh regaled the audience with the tale of Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Lhut, and his listeners enthusiastically received the name “Duluth,” anointing the choice with the popping of champagne corks just as the sun set; the crowd toasted Duluth, surely to be the “Queen of the West.” A wonderful tale, and indeed Wilson proposed the name, but the picnic itself probably never occurred (and the reverend may have hailed from Massachusetts or Logansport, Indiana). He had been promised a deed to two lots if he came up with a moniker for the town, and after researching books borrowed from George Nettleton, Wilson came up with a list, “Duluth” among the choices. He got his land.

Those first Duluthians—and residents of other fledgling townships—included mostly transplanted Superiorites such as the families of the Nettleton brothers, Colonel J. B. Culver, Orrin Rice, Reverend Ely, and Sidney Luce as well as the Lewis Merritt family of Oneota and others whose names remain prominent in Duluth. Still more came from throughout the country to stake their claims on what they hoped would become, as General George B. Sargent had predicted, the “center of trade of twenty American states yet unborn, and the British trade of the Red River settlements, and of Hudson’s Bay.” The local population grew to about 1,500. As in Superior, many speculated that Duluth would surpass Chicago as a center of trade and a destination for immigrants, and that its population would grow to 300,000 by the end of the century. The Panic of 1857 put an end to such thoughts, triggering an exodus of fortune seekers away from Lake Superior’s shores. By 1860 just 353 persons populated the three largest townships of Fond du Lac, Oneota, and Duluth.

According to early resident and amateur historian Jerome Eugene Cooley, those who stayed on would become known as the “Ancient and Honorable Order of the Fish Eaters,” for when times were tough they had little to eat but “fish or snowballs.” The Civil War also took a toll on the local population, as the unemployed left the region to find work fighting for the Union. Those who toughed it out scrabbled to find ways to make a living, including four young men—one with brewing skills—who opened a brewery along a waterway they named Brewery Creek, about two blocks from the site where the Fitger’s Brewery would later stand. The coming of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad from St. Paul to Duluth, backed by a dandy from Philadelphia, would change all that. Financier Jay Cooke arrived in Duluth in 1866, sporting a silk hat and handing out coins to Ojibwe on Minnesota Point (they called him “Great White Father”). Anticipation that Cooke’s rail line would put easy money in the pockets of landowners spawned another land rush in 1869, and the population soared. James J.

Egan, a state representative, would say that “the lifeless corpse of Duluth…touched by the wand of Jay Cooke, sprang fullarmed from the tomb.” Soon they were calling Duluth “Jay Cooke’s Town” and “Philadelphia’s western suburb.” Rumors of gold also brought a crush of speculators to the townships on the Minnesota side of the St. Louis. An 1865 geological survey claimed the shores of Lake Vermilion, north of Duluth, were rife with gold deposits. Prospectors swarmed to the region and even built a rough road, staked out by George Stuntz, along an old trail used for centuries by Dakota and Ojibwe (it ran roughly along what is today Seventh Avenue East in Duluth, County Road 4, and State Highway 135). Mining began in earnest in 1866, but prospectors uncovered very little gold. When Lewis Merritt visited the region, blacksmith North Albert Posey showed him something he had found that would prove much more valuable: a chunk of iron ore, evidence of a vast deposit that would later change the face of the entire Arrowhead region.

Despite the lack of gold in the Lake Vermilion area, the summer of 1866 found Duluthians feeling pretty confident about the region’s future. At an Independence Day picnic on Minnesota Point, newspaper publisher Dr. Thomas Foster (who produced Duluth’s first paper, the Minnesotian) gave a grand oration, during which he called Duluth the “Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas.” It was a speech filled with optimism; by January 1869 just fourteen families lived at the base of Minnesota Point. Duluthians elected their first mayor, J. B. Culver, the next year. If you believe Jerome Eugene Cooley, some Ojibwe men contributed to the voting roles. They had come to town, they thought, to attend a great celebration. Instead some unethical townspeople plied their “guests” with drink then forced them to put on borrowed pants and cast votes under the name “Joe LePorte” in exchange for another drink. Election officials counted 448 ballots that day, “without troubling to get out the woman vote,” as Cooley says.

By the middle of 1870, the population of Duluth had grown to 3,130 people—a mix of “Fish Eaters,” “Sixty-Niners” (who had arrived the year before for the land and gold rush), and the European immigrants who would build Jay Cooke’s railroad and log the hillsides for timber that would be milled and become Duluth’s first houses. The once-dying township was becoming a thriving city. Click on “2” for the rest of the story…. Minnesota travel guide - Wikitravel Understand[ edit ] Minnesotans generally present a cheery, genial attitude ("Minnesota nice") and may be caught off-guard when people don't reciprocate. Minnesotans' cheery attitude combined with a sing-song accent contrasts them with their fellow Midwesterners. Also, Minnesota represents a rare politically left-leaning presence in the United States, famously described in the book Main Street by Minnesota author Sinclair Lewis as Mr.

Stowbody, "Trouble enough with these foreign farmers; if you don't watch these Swedes they turn socialist or populist or some fool thing on you in a minute." In fact, these Swedes and foreign farmers did turn socialist, forming the Farmer-Labor Party in 1918, electing 3 successive governors, four senators and eight US representatives, until it merged with the Minnesota Democratic party in 1944. The state still maintains liberal leanings and is home to the second largest openly homosexual population in the US. However, parts of the state especially the outer suburbs of the twin cities are rather conservative. Combine Minnesota's cultural eccentricities with its beautiful forests and lakes and you have a gem for any tourist in the Midwestern US. Unlike many other US states that sport several major urban centers, most of Minnesota's urban culture is centered in the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which effectively form one large city divided into separate political areas. Although other urban centers exist in Rochester and Duluth the centralization of population, wealth and political power in the Twin Cities makes visiting "the Cities" a very different experience than the rest of the state.

In recent years, some Minnesotans are identifying the region as the "North" replacing the term "Upper Midwest." There are multiple arguments for this change, most notably they want recognition for innovative and sturdy character building, polished by long, cold winters. Another, rationale is that while the USA has the South, East, West, Northeast, Southeast, Pacific Northwest and Southwest, there is no region called "North". Given Minnesota's geographic accident of being the furthmost northern state (excluding Alaska which is its own region), it seems the movement to recast itself as the North is well deserved. Talk[ edit ] The stereotypical Minnesotan dialect as popularized in the film Fargo is more prevalent in northern (Iron Range) and rural parts of the state than it is in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. In fact, in the metropolitan area, the accent is rarely noticed by visitors, much less the locals. The dialect is characterized by long vowels and a slight inflection (especially Os as found in the word "boat"). The sing-songy intonation is less common with each generation removed from the Scandinavian ancestors. Native Americans (primarily Ojibwe) have an accent of their own.

In addition to a unique dialect, Minnesota also has several phrases and colloquial expressions that can be overheard somewhat frequently.

These include: Uff-da (Norwegian exclamation meaning "Off it!" Typically used as a response to surprising or exasperating circumstances) You betcha (You bet/of course) Hot dish (Casserole) Lutefisk (A traditional Scandinavian food of dried white fish soaked in lye.) Choppers (leather mittens with wool inserts, used for the really cold days) Twenty below (shorthand for 20 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), or -30'C (without windchill), which is when choppers start becoming necessary) Sorels (brand name of preferred winter boots, leather/rubber exterior, felt inserts) sled (slang term for a snowmobile) popple (aspen or poplar tree, one of the most common trees in northern Minnesota and important part of the logging industry) a forty (40 acres (about 16 hectares), or 1/8-mile by 1/8-mile of land, a derivative of the Public Land Survey (PLS) system) Acrost (Scandinavian influenced regional pronunciation of "across") Up north (Usually refers to anywhere that is north of the Twin Cities or where the person is at that time.

ex.- Up north to Ely [while in Duluth]) Parka (A very warm winter coat) Skol (Originally from the swedish term skål, a common drinking phrase used when clinking glasses together, such as "Cheers", "Salud", or "Chin Chin." Also used in their song for the Minnesota Vikings American football team, "Skol Vikings." Snus (A swedish word for wet snuff, a tobacco variety common in the North) schnort ("would you like a schnort?)an extra splash or shot of whatever your drinking, schnapps, whiskey, rum. usually hard alcahol. A soft drink is typically called 'pop,' rarely soda - even in newspaper advertisements.

If you ask for a "coke" you will receive a regular Coca-Cola; you will not be asked "What kind?" Sentences frequently end with a preposition, such as "Are you coming with?" If the sentence doesn't end with a preposition, the filler word 'then' may be appended, as in "So how's the car been running then?" Pronouns are dropped when assumed to be understood, as in, "Took the car to the dealer, told me it just needed a new battery." People tend to speak modestly, without extra superlatives or direct commands: "Most folks turn off their cell phones before church starts, you know." Garrison Keillor, a radio personality and humorist, often plays this up in his "Prairie Home Companion," which takes place in the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, somewhere near St. Cloud. Locals also tend to softly "hum" before saying goodbye in informal conversation. "Bye" is commonly pronounced "mmmbye," with the second syllable much shorter than the first. By car[ edit ] Three Interstate Highways travel through Minnesota.

I-90 and I-94 travel east-west, while I-35 travels north-south. Highway 2 travels through the state. Several other national and state highways also travel through the state, most notably Highway 61 "The Great River Road" also made famous by Bob Dylan in his album and song of the same name, "Highway 61 revisited." . Although Highway 61 ran to Grand Portage on the Canadian border prior to 1991, it now terminates at Interstate 35 just 30 miles north of St Paul. By plane[ edit ] The Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport ( IATA : MSP) is a major hub for Delta Air Lines [3] , while smaller international airports exist in Duluth ( IATA : DLH), Rochester ( IATA : RST), and regional airports in Saint Cloud ( IATA : STC), Brainerd ( IATA : BRD), Bemidji ( IATA : BJI), Thief River Falls ( IATA : TVF), Hibbing ( IATA : HIB), and International Falls ( IATA : INL).

By train[ edit ] For rail travel, there are Amtrak stations in La Crosse (Wisconsin), Winona, Red Wing, Saint Paul, Saint Cloud, Staples, Detroit Lakes, Fargo (North Dakota), and Grand Forks (North Dakota). These are served by the Empire Builder daily, which runs from Chicago to Seattle/Portland. By bus[ edit ] For bus travel, both Minneapolis and St. Paul are served by Greyhound and Jefferson Lines (popular for intrastate travel). Megabus also stops in downtown Minneapolis, with direct fares to Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee. Get around[ edit ] The Metro Transit [4] offers bus and light rail services to the Twin Cities and their surrounding suburbs. Average fare for either service is typically $1.75 ($2.25 for the peak times of 6:00-9:00 am and 3:00-6:30 pm.) The fare buys the rider a pass that can be used to ride on or transfer to any Metro Transit bus or train for 150 minutes. The Duluth Transit authority offers bus and trolley service to the Twin Ports area. The Metro Transit light rail service consists of two lines that connects the Minneapolis-St.

Paul International Airport (MSP), the Mall of America, the Warehouse District, downtown Minneapolis, and downtown St. Paul, among other places. The I-35W bridge which collapsed in August 2007 over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis is now rebuilt and open to traffic ahead of schedule. If your vehicle can run on E85, you can save money by using E85 instead of gas. There are over 350 stations that sell E85. Twin Cities[ edit ] Walker Art Center [5] and adjacent Sculpture Garden, near downtown Minneapolis. Minnesota Children's Museum, 10 West Seventh Street, St. Paul, MN 55102, ☎ 651-225-6000, [6] . T-Th, Sat & Sun: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fri: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mon: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Memorial Day-Labor Day). At Minnesota Children's Museum, kids will have a blast discovering an exciting, immersive world that arouses their curiosity, increases their understanding, and ignites an appreciation for learning.

Each of the Museum’s seven galleries is uniquely designed to provide a hands-on, stimulating environment for children six months to 10 years old. Roving "funstigators" engage kids in fun and interactive smart play as they blow bubbles, toss balls, play with finger puppets, and provide a variety of stimulating play experiences for children of all ages. $8.95, Children under 1: Free. edit Science Museum of Minnesota [7] , in downtown Saint Paul. Guthrie Theater, newly opened, June 2006 Valley Fair [8] , a theme park located in Shakopee that includes 6 roller coasters, a water park and an assortment of family rides. Canterbury Park [9] , a horse race track & card club casino located in Shakopee. The card club is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Live horse racing runs in summers, normally Thursday through Sunday, beginning May 15th, and ending August 30th. Famed for hosting the Claiming Crown semi-annually, a series of races with $600,000 in purses for claiming horses.

Live racing is a much more family oriented event, with a playground and pony rides usually offered on Sundays. Entertainment[ edit ] Ordway Center [32] is a musical and theatrical venue in downtown St. Paul, home of the Minnesota Opera, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra,and Schubert Club. Orchestra Hall [33] is home to the Minnesota Orchestra. Guthrie Theater [34] , renovated in 2006, is a nationally-renowed performing space. Recent performances have included "God of Carnage" and "West Side Story" First Avenue [35] offers an eclectic mix of music and entertainment. The building was originally a Greyhound Bus terminal and was converted into a concert venue in 1968. In the 1980s, First Avenue was a regular performing space for Prince. Drive A Tank [36] offers anyone the chance to do as the name same suggests. Drive a tank and even crush cars. Larry the Cable Guy (Dan Whitney) is one of many celebrities to partake of this attraction and it has been featured on numerous television shows such as Motor Week. Eat[ edit ][ add listing ] Lutefisk is a popular dish brought to Minnesota by Norwegian immigrants.

Made from dried cod reconstituted in caustic lye, it is an acquired taste, to say the least. This dish is more often brought out at Christmas time, in church basement suppers all over the state. For the less adventurous, there is lefse, a kind of tortilla-thin flatbread made with potato flour that can be used in a variety of ways, but is usually slathered with butter and sugar and rolled up into a tube. If you are in the Twin Cities area, you can find almost any kind of ethnic cuisine you desire, especially along Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, popularly known as "Eat Street". St. Paul has a large southeast Asian population, and there is a large East African population spread throughout the Twin Cities, but centered mostly in Minneapolis--the Safari Restaurant (Somali), the Blue Nile (Ethiopian), and the Holy Land Deli (Middle Eastern) are three well-known restaurants catering to those communities, along with countless hole-in-the-wall places along Franklin, Nicollet, and Central Avenues. Drink[ edit ][ add listing ] As in the rest of the United States, the drinking age is 21.

Minnesota has an ingrained drinking culture that is prevalent even in rural areas. Bars and restaurants that serve liquor may do so until 2am, although not all do (especially on Sunday through Thursday), and some municipalities may enforce an earlier closing time. Unlike most other states, you cannot buy alcohol in a grocery store or convenience store, unless it is "3.2 beer", which is a low-alcohol beer containing only 3.2% alcohol by weight (4% alcohol by volume). Some grocery stores don't even bother selling 3.2 beer even though they are allowed to, a testament to the state's rather prevalent drinking culture. If you want regular beer, wine, or liquor, but don't want to drink it at a restaurant or bar, then you must go to a liquor store. Although liquor stores are plentiful, they have uncommon hours that visitors should be aware of: First, liquor stores are closed on Sundays in accordance with the law, meaning that you cannot purchase any alcohol for home consumption on that day (bars and restaurants can serve alcohol on Sundays). Also, liquor stores are generally required to close fairly early (10pm or earlier). Unlike some states, the bars here generally won't sell liquor "to go".

This is less of a problem if you are near the border of a neighboring state with less restrictive liquor laws. Residents of the Twin Cities region have been known to make the short drive to Wisconsin on Sundays to purchase alcohol. Despite this puritanical approach to alcohol sales, even rural towns have a fairly active drinking culture (the cliche of "more bars than churches"). Identification is checked less often than in other states, though it happens more frequently in areas with a high amount of college students or tourists. Severe Weather[ edit ] Tornadoes==== During the spring and summer seasons, the state (particularly its southern region) spawn tornadoes. It is a good idea to pay attention to weather conditions during these seasons to maintain an awareness of any potential for these severe storms to occur. Keep in mind that weather conditions change very quickly, and therefore, frequently updating yourself in regards to the conditions is something to consider while traveling to or through the state during the spring/summer seasons. Refer to the Tornado safety page for more information. Winter Storms[ edit ] Minnesota also can have very cold winters and very hot, humid summers. Be sure to pack accordingly.

When traveling outside major metropolitan areas during winter months it is advisable to take extra blankets or warm weather gear in the event of an accident or mechanical difficulties. Temperatures can get well below freezing during the winter, and can get much colder. Native Minnesotans are taught to respect winter temperatures from a very early age. In winter months, make sure to check the ice thickness before going out on a frozen lake or pond. Do not park your vehicle on a lake or pond unless it is deemed safe by the local DNR officers. Never walk on river ice. It may appear safe but may not be thick enough to support your weight, due to the river current flowing underneath. Crime[ edit ] Minnesota has one of the safest crime rates in any US state, finishing in the top 10 safest states for most crime categories year after year. Most crimes occur in the Twin Cities Metro area, specifically in North Minneapolis and East St. Paul. However, in 2009 Forbes named the Twin Cities region the ninth (of 40) safest metropolitan areas based on violent crimes.

Get out[ edit ] North Dakota - Minnesota's western neighbor is America's least visited state, but its isolation provides opportunities for uncrowded visits to the state's hills and lakes, badlands, plains, and old frontier forts. South Dakota - Home to such natural and cultural wonders as Badlands National Park , Wind Cave National Park and Mount Rushmore , Minnesota's neighbor to the southwest offers a surprising amount for travelers to see and do. Iowa - Rural Iowa is Minnesota's southern neighbor and provides the opportunity to explore America's agricultural heartland. Wisconsin - The Cheese State borders Minnesota to the east. Michigan - The Upper Peninsula offer wilderness areas similar to those found in Northeastern Minnesota and can be reached by heading east across Lake Superior. Ontario - Located northeast of Minnesota, Northern Ontario covers 90% of the actual land mass of Ontario but only holds 6% of its population. Manitoba - Minnesota's northwestern neighbor is known for its prairies, agriculture, culture and history. Wade Stadium (Duluth) | Society for American Baseball Research If you can help us improve this article, contact us .

Wade Stadium (Duluth) This article was written by Anthony Bush When Miles Wolff first came to Duluth, Minnesota, and saw Wade Stadium in April 1991, he envisioned it as the crown jewel in his dream to revive professional baseball in the upper Midwest. His vision may have been blurred by optimism. Author Stefan Fatsis described a stadium in disrepair: “The concrete flooring buckled, wiring was exposed, the roof leaked, holes dotted the backstop, (and) the stands were covered with pigeon dung.” It had been over 20 years since professional baseball had been played in the stadium, a relic of the Great Depression. Located a half-block southeast of the 35th Avenue West/2nd Street intersection in the West Duluth neighborhood, Wade Stadium stands in the shadow of an elevated railroad leading to Duluth’s massive iron-ore docks. Merritt Creek runs near the right-field wall and the abandoned Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific railroad line lurks beyond left field. The stadium has no luxury boxes or Jumbotron, and, unlike big-league stadiums, has no restaurants, retail stores, or hotels built nearby, eager to serve fans.

And while its 12-foot-high brick walls give it the appearance of a prison, its interior offers an opportunity for liberation from the grind of modern life by stepping into the past, both Duluth’s and America’s. Professional Baseball in Duluth Professional baseball had flirted with Duluth before the Dukes, the Wade’s first tenants, began play in 1934. Duluth was represented by professional teams in 1886, 1887, and 1891; then in 1903 the Northern League expanded to Duluth and Wade Stadium’s predecessor, Athletic Park, was built. The Duluth White Sox played there from 1903 to 1916, primarily as a member of the Northern League. The league ceased operations on July 4, 1917, in the midst of World War I. It did not come back when the doughboys returned home after Armistice Day. When Bruno Haas revived the Northern League for the 1933 season, he was criticized for attempting to launch a minor league during the Great Depression. His league not only survived the financial crisis, it lasted into the 1970s.

Neighboring Superior, Wisconsin, fielded a Northern League team, the Superior Blues, who won the league championship in 1933. Duluth resident Richard “Rip” Wade, briefly an outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1923, managed the Blues. His father, Frank Wade, financed the team as a silent partner. When the league was expanded in 1934, the elder Wade was awarded the Duluth franchise. He named the team the Duluth Dukes in honor of the longtime Duluth White Sox manager Darby “Dook” O’Brien. From 1934 to 1940 the Dukes – affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals – played at Athletic Park, located near where Wade Stadium stands today (its right-field corner was in roughly the same location as Wade’s left-field corner). Despite its significance as the home of the NFL’s Duluth Eskimos in the 1920s, Athletic Park was a hastily-constructed facility with uncomfortable seating, no locker rooms, and an uneven field covered with the iron ore dust that rained down from the docks.

Building the Wade In 1938 the call went out for a new stadium to replace the dilapidated Athletic Park. A Citywide All-Sports Stadium Committee was created, and presented the city’s Charter Commission with petitions containing 7,074 signatures supporting a referendum on a $75,000 bond issue to cover the city’s share of a new stadium. In the referendum, held on November 8, 1938, more than the necessary three-fifths of the voters approved, and the vote was sustained by a recount. After that, the Duluth City Council created a Public Stadium Advisory Committee to work with the city planning commission’s recreational committee. (One of the council’s appointees to the committee was Olaf Haugsrud, a former owner of the NFL Eskimos who later became one of the first owners of the Minnesota Vikings.) Eschewing a plan put forth by the recreational committee to build the stadium at nearby Wheeler field, the advisory committee recommended a site adjacent to Athletic Park at 35th Avenue West. Called the “old circus grounds,” the property had been purchased by the city in 1937 for a municipal garage that was not built due to lack of funds.

The recreational committee then proposed a site exactly one block to the north, along 34th Avenue West. It cautioned against using the valuable industrial land with trackage at 35th Avenue West for a stadium. The 34th Avenue West site would have required purchasing three parcels of land: one from the state, one from the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway, and one, the Athletic Park site, from Dukes owner Frank Wade. The Stadium Committee chose the 35th Avenue West site. A $20,000 work-relief allocation for Duluth from the State of Minnesota included $7,500 for stadium construction. Then, when plans for federal aid from the Public Works Administration fell through in the fall of 1939, the city applied for funding from another New Deal agency, the Works Project Administration (WPA). The WPA provided jobs for more than 8.5 million people nationwide from 1935 to 1943 and, in Duluth it built dozens of rustic structures and retaining walls in the city’s parks. The WPA’s federal engineering division approved the city’s stadium plan and President Franklin D.

Roosevelt approved an allotment of $80,732 on February 28, 1940. The federal project control division okayed a plan to lease the stadium to the Dukes for five years at $2,000 a year. However, the City Council postponed construction indefinitely on April 8, pending the possibility of a congressional change of WPA appropriations. The Duluth Building and Construction Trades council, which opposed the use of WPA labor because the WPA paid less than the prevailing wage scale for skilled labor, urged further postponement. The West Duluth Business Men’s club protested the postponement, saying bonds had been sold and a majority of voters supported the plan. No congressional action was taken, and on May 3 the City Council gave the go-ahead for construction. Preliminary work commenced on May 20 after a groundbreaking ceremony. The Duluth Herald reported on July 9 that “At present two shifts of 75 men, directed by Roy Gamache, superintendent, under the supervision of C.J.

Knutson, WPA engineer, are placing wall footings, doing drainage work, and grading and filling in, with construction of the walls and stands to follow.” On August 7 the Dallavia Construction Co. won the construction contract with a low bid of $12,994. The company would lay 381,000 paving bricks salvaged from the reconstruction of nearby Grand Avenue when it was repaved in concrete earlier that summer. Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio visited the nearly-completed stadium in January 1941 while staying with his in-laws. DiMaggio had married actress Dorothy Arnold, a Duluth native, in 1939. Joltin’ Joe waded through the snow to take a swing at an imaginary pitch and remarked, “Baby, batting out a homer in this park will be a good job for the best of ’em.” The project needed several bailouts before anyone could start knocking out homers, however.

The WPA had appropriated an additional $67,648 on December 16, 1940, and the city itself had to make sacrifices; the newspapers reported that $1,311 had been diverted from various city funds to purchase two carloads of cement. With the stadium close to completion in June 1941, another purchase of materials was necessary to prevent a work shutdown. The city purchased the materials on the assurance of Minnesota Governor Harold E. Stassen that $10,000 in legislative emergency funds would be awarded to complete all of Duluth’s major WPA public-works projects. The First 40 Years The Dukes played their first game at the brand-new Duluth Municipal All-Sports Stadium on July 16, 1941. While fans and players enjoyed the facility, the Dukes took it on the chin in their match with their cross-port rivals, losing to the Superior Blues 6-3. The Northern League shut down after the 1942 season because of World War II. A short-lived but historically significant league was established in its stead.

The Twin Ports League, the only Class E minor league to have ever existed, lasted six weeks in the summer of 1943 before folding on July 13. The league consisted of four teams: the Duluth Dukes, Duluth Heralds, Duluth Marine Iron, and Superior Bays. The three Duluth teams played their home games at the stadium. Most of the players were local industrial workers. The Northern League resumed play in 1946, and the Dukes were once again part of the Cardinals’ system. On July 24, 1948, tragedy struck while the Dukes were traveling from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to St. Cloud, Minnesota. A truck collided head-on with the team bus in Roseville, Minnesota, killing team manager (and bus driver) George “Red” Treadwell and players Don Schuckman, Gilbert Trible, and Gerald “Peanuts” Peterson. Another player, Steve Lazar, died two days later. Only four of the 13 survivors managed to continue their careers as professional baseball players. The experience would prove difficult for Frank Wade to overcome.

He sold the Dukes to Adam Pratt in 1951, but continued his role as president. Pratt sold the club to M.E. Olson and Ken Blackman in September 1952. Wade served in an advisory capacity for the new owners. He died on January 12, 1953, after suffering a heart attack. He was 80 years old. Known as Duluth’s “Mr. Baseball,” Wade spent a half-century promoting the sport in the Zenith City. His obituary in the Duluth News Tribune said that his health, “always vigorous and robust, cracked under the strain” of the 1948 bus accident. A year later the old stadium advisory committee came together to propose that the city rename the municipal stadium in Wade’s honor, citing his work over the years: “(He) gave so freely, gladly and generously of his time, effort, and money to perpetuate the great American game of baseball and to afford so much clean, wholesome recreation and entertainment to our citizens,” the committee said. The City Council passed a resolution on February 3, 1954, and the Duluth All-Sports Municipal Stadium officially became Wade Municipal Stadium.

Duluth residents would soon refer to it simply as “Wade” or “The Wade.” Wade’s team continued to call the stadium home after his death. The team had lost its affiliation with St. Louis in 1950 and played independently until 1954, when it became part of the Cincinnati Redlegs farm system. The 1950s proved difficult for the Twin Ports to support two professional teams after the advent of television brought major-league baseball into living rooms across the nation. The Superior Blues folded after the 1955 season and merged with Duluth the following year as the Duluth-Superior White Sox, part of the Chicago system. In 1960, now as a Detroit farm team, the Dukes name returned. Many future stars and Hall of Famers played at the Wade while members of Northern League teams. Aberdeen fielded Don Larsen, Earl Weaver, and Jim Palmer. Hank Aaron played for Eau Claire. Roger Maris got his start for Fargo-Moorhead, while Willie Stargell did the same in Grand Forks. Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, and Gaylord Perry all played for St. Cloud.

Duluth’s most famous connection to the major leagues was in the 1960s, when the club was affiliated with the Detroit Tigers. Twelve of the players on the Tigers’ 1968 World Series championship team had played for the Duluth-Superior Dukes, including Bill Freehan, Willie Horton, and Denny McLain. By the end of the 1960s Duluth was once again affiliated with the Chicago White Sox after affiliations with Detroit and the Chicago Cubs, and the Dukes were thriving. They were Northern League champions in both 1969 and 1970, and attendance increased 25 percent from 1968 to 1969 and 41 percent from 1969 to 1970. The situation was different in the majors. The White Sox’ attendance in Chicago was less than 500,000 in 1970, and the team lost $900,000. Across the board, major-league clubs were severing ties with their low-level minor-league affiliates in cost-cutting measures.

By December 1970 the Dukes had lost their agreement with the White Sox and were unable to find a new parent club; Duluth dropped out. The Northern League lasted just one more season, fielding just four teams. After the Dukes The stadium had long offered more than just Dukes games. In 1949 it hosted the annual state high-school baseball tournament, in which Edison High School of Minneapolis defeated Washington High of St. Paul, 6-3, for the state championship. At a banquet at the Spalding Hotel in downtown Duluth, guest speaker I.T. Simley, South St. Paul’s superintendent of schools, “indicated Duluth in the future may become the high-school baseball capital of the state as Minneapolis is in basketball and St. Paul is in hockey.” But it was the only time the tournament was held in the city. Baseball continued to be played at the Wade after the Dukes’ departure. The University of Minnesota Duluth played its home games there from 1971 to 1988 and high-school baseball continued at the Wade, but it was hardly enough to support the stadium.

When Proctor High School defeated Denfeld High School of Duluth for the 1976 Section 7AA Championship, the Duluth News Tribune reported that the paid attendance of 929 was the “largest in recent years.” The two events that drew the biggest crowds to the stadium were not related to baseball. A Willie Nelson concert drew 8,200 people in 1983, and a year later the Beach Boys and Three Dog Night also performed at the Wade. Even the efforts of Ray Adameak could do only so much in the face of years of neglect in the harsh Duluth climate. Adameak became the head groundskeeper at the Wade in 1986. He immediately put grass back in the infield that had been removed in 1974. Adameak worked to maintain the playing surface, but the structure itself fell into disrepair. Miles Wolff’s 1991 plans for resurrecting the Northern League were solidified when he saw Wade Stadium. Wolff, former owner of the Durham Bulls and founder of Baseball America magazine, was steeped in baseball history.

Author Stefan Fatsis described the moment Wolff first saw the Wade as an epiphany: “From the outside [Wolff] saw a fully enclosed brick behemoth, a structure full of mass and power, a ballpark stuck in a time capsule he had accidentally unearthed.” Like Adameak’s work, a community “Save the Wade” task force could do only so much. Fundraising efforts included an exhibition game between the Minnesota Gophers and the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in 1991, but those efforts fell short. It took Wolff’s daring vision to get the City of Duluth and Mayor Gary Doty to authorize a $527,000 renovation project. The Wade was given a rebirth. Professional baseball returned to Duluth in 1993 with a brand-new team with an old name. The Duluth-Superior Dukes played for ten seasons in the independent Northern League. Despite a league championship in 1997, they had nine losing seasons, poor attendance, and a revolving door of owners who could not turn a profit. After the 2002 season the club moved to Kansas City, Kansas, and became the T-Bones.

The T-Bones left the Northern League and joined the American Association after the 2010 season. The College of St. Scholastica started playing home games at the Wade in 2000, and as of 2013, still does. It is also the home of Duluth’s Denfeld High School baseball team and was the longtime baseball home of the city’s Central High School until 2004, when a new field was built on the school’s campus. (The school has since closed.) While professional baseball was gone, the Duluth Huskies immediately filled the void in 2003. The Huskies compete in the Northwoods League, a summer collegiate league. In January 2012 the Huskies began working with the City of Duluth, which owns the stadium, on gathering funds for another renovation project. Among the issues: The facility’s 70-year-old brickwork needs repointing throughout the entire structure, and a portion of the wall parallel with the first-base line, which had been leaning, collapsed during a winter storm in 2013.

The $8.1 million project envisioned by the Huskies included a new entrance plaza and artificial turf. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development passed on the proposal in September 2012, despite approving funding for a ballpark project in St. Paul. The Huskies hoped for favorable consideration of a bonding proposal at a future session of the Minnesota legislature. For most of his life, Frank Wade helped baseball grow in Duluth. Only time could tell if the brick landmark that bears his name would continue to be the site of many a game for years to come. Sources Fatsis, Stefan, Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America’s Heartland (New York: Walker & Company, 1996), 24. Duluth Herald.

Question: In which American state would you find the city of Duluth?
Answer: MINNESOTA